• Question: can parasites die? if not why?

    Asked by ILuvScience to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 14 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hi ILuvScience
      yes, parasites have a limited lifespan like everything else. But some parasites like Schistosomes can survive for years, even decades. Of course they will die if you are taking appropriate medications, that’s why you are taking the medicine, to get rid of the parasite.

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Schistosomes are particularly long lived, as are hookworms. Many parasites live for as long as their hosts – particularly many parasites of animals. A dead host, unless it is part of life cycle because it will be eaten, is not much use to a parasite. And we could not call an organism a parasite if it only occupied dead hosts.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hi ILuvScience, Yes they definitely can die. But there are maaaaany many kinds of parasites and they have different lifespan (Trypanosome, a kind of protozoan parasites, do not live so long individually but the infection can last a long time because they produce new Trypanosome to replace the dead one; whereas, some worms can live for years without getting disposed of by our body). They evolved into different ways of life but all with the main purpose to successfully get passed on and produce more offsprings.

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 15 Jun 2016:

      Yes, parasites can die just like other living things. If parasites are particularly successful at avoiding being killed by the immune system or in the external environment then they can live out their full potential life span. As the other scientists say, this can vary greatly between different types of parasites with worms tending to live for longer (years) than biting insects or single-celled parasites. This might be because single large multi-celled parasites like worms need longer to reproduce, whereas simpler parasites can reproduce rapidly so they dont need to live as long.

      For parasites that live inside the body, the immune system may learn how to kill them more quickly with time so that the first parasite that infects can live for some time, but the second third, fourth, fifth…parasite is killed more quickly and so has a shorter life span.

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